Another resto, 1970 Chopper mk1

[splodge s4]

Another restoration, another bike saved from bike heaven, another couple of months spent with stinging hands from paint stripper, is it worth it? Yes!

I bought this Mk1 whilst looking for bits for the quod chopper (thats another story), complete bike but in bits, with a mk2 all in all for £138. I had to travel to Liverpool to get it & the seller who knew nothing about Choppers was laughing at me as he didnt think he'd get more that £30 & I travelled how far!? (Bristol!) Its never nice buying something from someone who is laughing at you...

The Mk1 is the yellow one, heres the first pics:



strange rear rack, never seen it before on any Chopper, any one have any ideas about it?

The Cissy bar was lose & it stripped easily, then I saw the huge crack



A mate who restores classic cars welded it & did a cracking job so all looking good



On with cleaning the bits, the front wheel is an old dyno hub, it was fitted to some early chops so keen to keep it & the rear hub has the date stamped so again keen to clean, restore & keep original, alloy wheel cleaner works a treat. before & after shots show it all

















Then on with the frame, I wasnt sure what colour, i decided on a nice a nice powder blue but then thought about keeping it the original mustard then I saw a pic of a deep red Mk1 & it looked stunning with white decals, that was it, on with the spraying, red undercoat:



Then top coat, its a Halfords Diablo red which it a match for Peugeot wicked red, it nearly matches the original deep red some mk1's were



I left it a week then sanded it to a dull red again. Some people ask when after you have got the top coat a lovely deep red then why not just stick the stickers on then lacquer, the lacquer wont take to a shiny surface so you have to sand your lovely shiny frame back to a dull finish. The pics will really show the difference, stick the decals to the dull red frame then 2 coats of lacquer







Then left for a week or 2 to dry & harden then the bit that makes it all worth it, start the build



Then finished & the bling shots!







And with his mates, its only the pedals, tyres & gear lever that are the same as the Yellow Mk2, everything else is different



Total cost was £138 for 2 bikes, stickers £7, paints £28, tyres £22 & thats it, total £195 & i still have a mk2 & the bits for the next project. Mk1's on ebay in this condition go for between £500 & £700, maybe more, but as my wife says its only money if you sell them, & I dont! Hope you like it chaps, im well happy

(& all gears work )

[Highrisedrifter]

Stunning mate. Great work.

I had two Choppers when I was growing up. I learned to ride on the Raleigh version (complete with tassles from the bar ends) and I had another Chopper in yellow.

The yellow one was a 'Chessington Chopper' and the downtube had a larger diameter than the regular ones. It was an off-brand and was a damn sight more resilient than the Raleigh one I had. That Chessington also had a rack on the back like the one in your picture. Apart from that, the two bikes were pretty similar in looks. I wish I had a picture of either of them, but alas I don't.

[CoolC]

Fantastic work again!

Are you pinting them with rattle can? I've got an old frame I'm going to strip and paint for my daughter, how many tins are needed on a frame that size?

[Parrot of Doom]

Brilliant work, now you've got me thinking My steed was a Grifter, maybe I should buy one...

[neil_bolton]

Parrot of Doom said:

Brilliant work, now you've got me thinking My steed was a Grifter, maybe I should buy one...

Splodge has a Grifter in his garage which is the identical one that I used to one. I so badly want it, I often plan to sneak around and steal it.

However.

I've seen what he keeps in his front room.

Burglars would get a shock of their lives, that's all I'll say

[mattviatura]

Great job again Splodge, what are you using to bring the chrome back on your smaller parts with fiddly bits (springs, clamps etc)?

Oh and I don't agree with your comment about people laughing at you - I think it's great when you know something they don't, I'm doing a Team Aero Pro Burner next which was bought for joke money.

[splodge s4]

mattviatura said:

what are you using to bring the chrome back on your smaller parts with fiddly bits (springs, clamps etc)?

Oh and I don't agree with your comment about people laughing at you - I think it's great when you know something they don't, I'm doing a Team Aero Pro Burner next which was bought for joke money.

For the chrome bits I just brush on turtle wax alloy wheel cleaner then give a good scrub, just a hard bristle brush or fine wire brush will get surface rust off then wash off with water & dry, ive not used any polish but might do that on the weekend.

Make sure you do a build thread for the Aero pro!

CoolC said:

Fantastic work again!

Are you pinting them with rattle can? I've got an old frame I'm going to strip and paint for my daughter, how many tins are needed on a frame that size?

Yup, I used a 500ml can for 2-3 coats of undercoat then 2 cans of 300ml for the top red coat, that will get you at least 3 good coats with a bit left over incase you need to rub down any runs & re spray & then a 500ml clear lacquer which again is more than plenty.

neil_bolton said:

I've seen what he keeps in his front room. Burglars would get a shock of their lives, that's all I'll say

[BliarOut]

Cracking job.... But didn't the MKI have a round gear knob and fixed cowhorns?

[splodge s4]

BliarOut said:

Cracking job.... But didn't the MKI have a round gear knob and fixed cowhorns?

Your right & wrong! Mk1's do have a round gear nob, for some reason this one didnt & ive seen lots of pics of show winning mk1's that also have the 'T' type gear lever. Not sure why this one wasn't round, the gear cover is the metal mesh type so def a mk1 as its nothing like a mk2, just one of those things I guess.

The bars were only fixed on the mk2's. Mk1s were adjustable, theres only one bolt holding the bars up & even when thats tight you can still shuve them forwards so that was changed on the Mk2 to stop kids flying over the bars. Again though ive seen a few mk1's with the later mk2 bars.

The mk1 was only made from 69 to 72 so there would have been a time when mk2 bits were available & went on to the last mk1 frames, as this is a 1970 though i'd have thought it would have had the round gear nob. I might make one from a pool ball or nick one from a 70's ferrari

[BliarOut]

Arse, got my handlebars back to front

My Fizzy Lemon MKII (with the squarer seat back and shorter seat ) had a Honda C50 piston as the gear lever

My frame also snapped in exactly the same place as yours, although it may have been on the drive side. I can still remember my dad took it to VP Welding and they put a tube in and welded it up for me.

[paulmon]

Wasnt the yellow with red writing the 5 speed chopper that had two gear levers ?? I seem to remember that colour config and associate it with the special (two gear lever) version.

P

[BliarOut]

That Fizzy Lemon one in the background is a three speeder.

[paulmon]

BliarOut said:

That Fizzy Lemon one in the background is a three speeder.

Not that one the one in the first picture. It would appear that my aging memory was correct

[mark387mw]

I had an orange MKI with adjustable bars.
I'm in New Zealand now and this one is going for $650! http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Cycling/Other-bike...
For you Chopper experts, I'm sure I've seen Choppers for sale here under a different manufacturer - probably made under licence?

Also, what can anyone tell me about this one I saw a few years ago at Rockingham.

[Unclechopchop]

Lovely work splodge, very lovely indeed. You seem to be a bit of an oracle on the chopper front, and I've got a couple of questions for you, if that's ok? I live on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere and i've just bought the island's only chopper. It's a Mk3, in a bit of a state and needs some serious TLC. The main question is, is it possible to fit a
Mk1 or 2 seat and sissy bar to the Mk 3? I appreciate it would probably require some modding, and as a real beginner I'd like to know how possible this would be. Secondly, do you have any experience with satin paint on bikes? I only ask as I bought this for the missus and she wants it re-finished matte brown . Any answers you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers then!

[splodge s4]

Unclechopchop said:

Lovely work splodge, very lovely indeed. You seem to be a bit of an oracle on the chopper front, and I've got a couple of questions for you, if that's ok?

Thankyou & ask away

I'm not that familar with the mk3, ive never had one or worked on one but during my research I stumbled on a few threads where people have converted mk3's into looking like mk2's. Its really the seat & the gears thats most important to give it the 70's touch. Have a read up on these threads:

http://raleighgrifter.aceboard.com/229420-9930-182...

This is cool:

http://raleigh-action-bikes.proboards.com/index.cg...

As for spraying, I guess to keep it a matt finish you'd just spray as normal but not lacquer it? I've only once used a black satin & that was to spray a mk2 gear cover, never tried it on a frame. Good luck with it & enjoy it, its addictive!

[mattviatura]

Splodge while you're in a question-answering mood I've just finished my Mongoose and am about to apply decals. I'd like if possible to 'age' them a bit so they don't look too pristine against the 28 year old chrome. Have you got any ideas?

Cheers

[splodge s4]

mattviatura said:

Splodge while you're in a question-answering mood I've just finished my Mongoose and am about to apply decals. I'd like if possible to 'age' them a bit so they don't look too pristine against the 28 year old chrome. Have you got any ideas?

Cheers

Get out & ride it man! An hour down the local track should have them looking 'used'

Maybe light sanding with a bit of sand paper? wire wool? It will depend on what effect your after. Personally i'd leave it as it is, no one will pick you up for your decals being to fresh. How about a bit of work on the frame to bring the finish up rather than age the stickies. Tin foil, cocacola & hard work really does work on chrome

Any pics,? build thread to follow?

[mattviatura]

splodge s4 said:

Get out & ride it man! An hour down the local track should have them looking 'used'

Any pics,? build thread to follow?

There's a thread - Old School Mongoose Californian. I finished the build on Saturday but spent Sunday dealing with a hangover of biblical proportions so wasn't quite up to writing it up. I'll get it done in the next few days.

Looking at my Team Aero Pro with trepidation now.

[hman]

bought a purple chopper, and a 2 stroke chainsaw engine, got an angle grinder out- then put it all away and sold everything - couldnt bring myself to wreck a surviving raliegh chopper and sold it for £50 in 2002.


lets face it they dont ride well under pedal power let alone a 35cc 2 stroke!!